Gold

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT GOLD

The first time Derek Pickell sailed on his own, he said he felt scared. He doesn't remember if he was 5 or 6 at the time, but he will never forget that first day in an eight-foot sailboat in Newport Harbor. "I had to make decisions and steer around other boats," Pickell said. "I was all alone. " Ten years later, Pickell found himself by himself, in a same sized boat, just in another location. This time, he felt much better after his ride ended. Pickell sailed to victory at the Junior Sabot National Championship gold fleet event in San Diego on Wednesday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Esther Lofgren, an Olympic gold medalist, offers her thoughts and gratitude in an email about recently earning a spot on the U.S. women's quadruple sculls crew at the 2013 Senior World Championships in Chungju, South Korea, starting Aug. 26. Lofgren grew up training at Newport Aquatic Center and graduated from Newport Harbor High. She has a website, http://www.estherlofgren.com , and plans to provide blog updates this month. Lofgren is also helping raise money for a friend, Byron Plapp, who was diagnosed with cancer last year.

After two one-goal losses during the first day of competition at the USA Junior Olympics, the 12U Anteater Water Polo Club ran off eight straight wins to take the gold medal in the Champions Gold Division Tuesday. All 15 players on the Anteater roster call Newport Beach home. In this year's USA Water Polo's 44th annual Junior Olympics, Anteater suffered two tough losses in pool play to Greenwich Aquatics (Conn.) and CC United Black on Saturday. The team used the losses as motivation to win all of its remaining games over the next three days to take the championship.

Recent Corona del Mar High graduate Adam Young helped the U.S. men's gymnastics team win the gold medal at the Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish athletic event that is held every four years in Israel. Young, who is bound for UC Berkeley, finished fifth in the all-around with a score of 76.4. The U.S. defeated the Israeli national team for the gold. Eduard Azarian, a member of the Soviet Union's gold medal gymnastics winning team at the 1980 Olympic Games, coached Young.

SANTA ANA - It took nine players, seven games and 112 goals for Costa Mesa Aquatics Club to prove itself on a national stage. Oh yeah, and one gold-medal effort. The program is making its first appearance at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics. On Tuesday afternoon at Mater Dei High, the Costa Mesa 12-and-under "Black" team showed it had the heart of a champion. CMAC won the classic division at the world's largest water polo tournament, defeating top-seeded Alliance Aquatics of Capistrano Valley, 9-7, in the championship match.

NEWPORT BEACH - The local club with the hottest team in the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics is the one making its first appearance on this national stage. The Costa Mesa Aquatics Club 12-and-under boys have gone 4-0 over their first two days of action in the classic bracket, establishing themselves as gold-medal contenders. CMAC "Black," which was seeded third, added two more dominant victories Sunday. Costa Mesa, coached by Costa Mesa High alumni Cody and Dustin Serrano, topped San Diego Shores B, 19-2, before blasting South Coast, 20-8.

There are many reasons why the CdM Aquatics Grey 18-and-under boys' team plans to have a good time at this year's USA Water Polo Junior Olympics. Two of the captains from last year's CdM high school team, Newport-Mesa Player of the Year Reid Chase (Stanford) and fellow Dream Team selection Colby Watson (USC), weighed in on a couple of them before CdM Grey played in a scrimmage Wednesday night at UC Irvine. "It's fun, because we all know each other and we've played together for so long," Chase said.

Goalkeeper Tumua Anae, a former Corona del Mar High standout, and attacker Kelly Rulon, a Newport Beach resident, are on the U.S. women's senior national team roster for the 2013 FINA World Championships that begin Sunday in Barcelona Spain. Anae and Rulon were among 13 athletes selected and two of eight returners from the team that won gold at the 2012 Olympics. Recently, Team USA took home bronze from the FINA World League Super Final and then followed that with a second-place finish at the Dutch Trophy last week.

April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings finished 3-0 in pool play Thursday at the Federation Internationale de Volleyball Gstaad Grand Slam. Ross, a Costa Mesa resident and a former Newport Harbor High standout, and Walsh Jennings needed to dig deep to fight back against Brazil's Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado to win 19-21, 21-12, 15-10 to reach the elimination rounds with three wins. The match was only Walsh Jennings' third on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour after she returned from giving birth to her third child in April.